All posts by Zoe

Over on YouTube, I’ve been having a lot of fun reading kid’s books out loud. Being consistent has helped me to grow my channel. I’m getting more and more views each month, with a steady rate of growth of subscribers, too. But I have a goal, and I’ve set myself a sorta reward. The next hurdle for my channel is getting 100 subscribers. And when I hit that goal, I will do a YouTube live stream, reading Roald Dahl’s The Twits.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, in part because I know that once I commit to something like this, I have to do it. I can’t push that off for the 250 subscriber mark, or the 1000 mark. I’m definitely going to read The Twits out loud once I have 100 subscribers. Continue Reading

I told you before that I had goals for 2019. You can read the more detailed commentary about the goals, but the core was to take care of my mental and physical health, to save some money (hopefully towards travel), and to put more time into my creative outlets like this blog, my YouTube channel and my coaching business. It’s all well and good to make goals of any kind, but it can be hard to keep track of them or take the necessary actions.

Last year, I bought my first Erin Condren planner. I really liked it. But by the end of the year, I didn’t feel like I had really used it to its full potential. So this year, I decided to set myself up for success using my Erin Condren planner, and a month into the process, I feel like I’ve found my groove. So I thought I’d share how I organized it, what’s working for me and what I want to do better.

(Full disclosure: When I decided that I wanted to write this blog, I figured I’d also sign up as an EC affiliate. This means that the links to Erin Condren stuff are connected to me, helping me earn a small commission if you decide to buy anything. Or you can use THIS link to get $10 credit when you buy and I’ll get also get some store credit to buy more stuff!)Continue Reading

Even before we gave Harley her own tablet, we were looking for video content for her. The reality is that screen time isn’t evil, and honestly, sometimes we all need time to zone out – her in front of a video and me without a little one demanding my complete attention. That said, I still like to encourage her to watch things that expand her mind, teach her something, or are generally worthwhile. I’ve found a bunch of awesome shows for kids, and I thought I’d share them with you. This time, it’s Team Umizoomi. Continue Reading

I don’t normally like to talk about money. I don’t claim to be some kind of financial guru or to have all the answers to get people out of debt or whatnot. There are plenty of other blogs and sites that can help with that. But, I am pretty good with money, and I thought I’d share something that has made our lives way easier. Dean and I have a budget on Google and it is a lifesaver.

Back in South Africa, Dean was paid a consistent income every month on the 25th. It ran like clockwork. Then we would logon to our internet banking and pay all the bills we paid manually, and a couple days later all the debit orders would come off and we’d see how much money we had left for the month as my income was usually paid on a more irregular basis. It was simple and worked for us. But now, with both of us working as freelancers or contractors or whatever you want to call it, the funds vary a lot more from one month to the next, and it can be hard to keep track of it all. That’s why we have a budget sheet on Google. Continue Reading

Apologies in advance if this ends up sounding like a bit of a rant. I’m just fed up. I’m tired of people sharing crap on social media without thinking. I’m tired of couch researching moms deciding that debunked documentaries about vaccines are right or that the radiation from phones will disrupt your kid’s brain development. So, the next time someone shares something about how screen time is evil, I figure this blog will serve as a way for me to give a rebuttal without leaving essay-length Facebook comments.

To be clear, I am not saying that ANYONE should consume content all day. We all need multiple stimuli throughout the day, and kids in particular have specific needs to help them develop and grow. You can check out my child development posts to read more about ways that you can help your kid grow, become a genius and generally just be awesome. But some people enjoy unwinding with video or interactive media. And to somehow make gamers, Netflix bingers and Pinterest scrollers into lesser people because of screen time use is irresponsible and untrue. Continue Reading